Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1887-11-04
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PRsPARED For MARKET.


sow TIE poPt,LAa EpIl g Isl
pRsPARED or MARI
1 innsanses Ions 81 tho Business In
Chieago Cabbage lsaisinx i Proatablsa
Industry- .11,e CnttinE of the Cabbage.
III tho Tank. 81 iss
you want to know how sauer kraut Is
made I'd better explain from the beginning,p
said MI. Johnson Experience has taught
me that instead Of raising cabbage plants
here in glass houses in winter time it is
cheaper aud better to raise then, in the south
from the seed and then transplant them to
Illinois when the weather becomes warm
| enough. The plants arc more hardy, larger,
and can get them set out several weeks
ahead Of the hothouse growers. We have
nearly 1900 acres of land in Tennessee, Flor
ida and Illinois on which we grow nothing
but cabbage. We plant the seed in Tennes-
see in March and then transplant the plants
in car loads to- Florida and Illinois. There
are from $4,000 to GOO, COO plants iii a car
load. Sounds big, but it's true. The cabbage
/ planted III Florida from Sept Is to Dec. l
ripens from, Feb to june Is We have had
new cabbage rs early as Christmas down
south, hut that's unusual Here VIC plant
from My to July, and the cabbage is ripe
from Ahsn>t until frost comes October is
the big ,nrs,th." :
"Do you rt,se all your OWL cabbage?"
Don't begin to do it. We buy over 500, 900
| worth Of cabbage every year from farmers
q ,nI hf,.fAt
| fiva ear i,';!,ss.of Inwa cabbage standing on
! my sdelr.ciss now. NJ; Iowa cabbage us,,-
ally is not as good li,ois, but this year it's
better because they've had more rain there
| than we've had. Farmers for miles around
bring their cabbage to u.s. See that striug Of
wagons along that street, and he pointed to
row of wagons loaded with cabbage like 80
| much hay.
After the first wagon load OF cabbage had
bee: weighed It was hauled to large, long
building, two stories, Or really one and O half
| stories Ill height The sides werc open, and
with IL pitchforl the cabbage was tossed into
the upper floor just like hay is put into the
| NOV. But instead of being scattered over
| the floor the cabbage is piled up in space
about fifteen feet in width a board nailed up
| to the inner rafters preventing it from going
farther. After the cabbage was unloa,ied tho
| driver took from lower platform load Of
| cores and outer leaves of cabbage This is
! fed to their cows and is said to do them as
| much good as the sauer kraut does human
| beings.
| well go inside now and I'll show YOU
! where those cores and cabbage leaves come
! fronl," said Mr. johnson, leading the way.
Had known what it was I would have gone
there first Ranged around the room, to call
it that, at equal distances apart, were thirty
| two girls working as bllsils as bees.
! In her right hand each girl held an iustru-
| 1nent which can be described as huge cheese
trer," one of those things you stick in cheese,
give it twrl, and then pull it out, to test its
nteyness, you know. Well, those girls
| treated the cabbage like one would cheese.
Drawing one down from the pile with spite
| full little dig she'd thrust tho knife into the
side of the core, give her wrist couple of
| twists, and the whole core would come out as
| nicely as could be. They were very expert
! at it, and could core 500 cabbages al hour
| with ease. After the coro was removed with
three or four blows with the knife the outer
leaves Of the cabbage would be whipped off
with all the worms, dirt and insects, and
| showed into trough, from which they fell to
the platform described before. At the same
time the clean head of cabbage was thrown
back of them OIL to a big, broad platform,
| running the whole length of the room. On
this platform were half dozen women armed
with hay ra!ies, and US the cabbage was
thrown on to it the women pushed it to the
center Of the floor, where four neu took it
and fed it into machine somewhat re-
senn,iing tho stones Of griss mill.
A very interesting and important part of
ly,.a,t Iii, -
bage. As wine depends greatly on its age
for flavor and quality, SO does s;,uei kraut
depend upon the manner in which, tue cab
baSe is cut. To be firm and crisp, yet tender,
tbs cabbage must DO cut III long thin slices.
70 chop it up fine, as could be done much
easier. would practically be to spoil it, or
render its value much less. After expert
nlentinG for over five years a knife was in
vented which does the work in the most sat-
| isfactoi'y manner. By means of q shaft i'll
tho center it is made to revolve very rapidly,
and eight knives slice the cabbage as neat as
q butcher could steak. The knife can cut
| meat too, as some of the operators have
foun,l out to their sorrow. This wheel of
knives is about thirty inches in diameter, md
| will cut from $1,000 to 10000 pounds of cab
buge a day, depending on the skill and energy
of the feeders.
-Four feeders work, although only one can
feed if desired The head of cabbage is laid
OH the wheel and the pressure of the hand
causes it to disappear il IL few seconds. Be-
Meath the wheel is ' shaped chest or box,
int, which tie cut cubhag falls. When it is
full Il big truck, holding 400 pounds of cab
bage, is showed under it, the right side of tho
chest is pulled back, and the cabbage falls
into the truck. The girls who cut the cores
from the cabbage stand on platform raised
about three feet from the floor below the one
| OH which the cabbage is unloa!cd.
When ONE of the trucks Is flied it is pushed
along, gaugway by two lusty young men
and iuto u big building 56xlS4 feet. This is
called the packing house. Never having seen
the vault of brewery. can't say it looks
like one, although judge it docs 1t is filled
with huge tanks 20 feet in diameter and 10
feet deep. There are twenty-eight tanks in
this building and ten tanks in all adjoining
building 322l96 feet in dimension. Each tank
holds 400 barrels of sauer kraut, worth nearly
$4,000. Thus the thirty-eight tanks, if only
filled once year, contain S1a3, 900 worth Of
sauer lSraut In each tank are two big,
strong mon wearing long rubber boots
When a truckful of cabbageis dumped into
the tank they tramp it down. The object of
this is to break the fiber sufficiently to let out
| the water, SO the salt, which is plentiful'y
thrown over it, will take action Mt once In
ot,,cr words, it is to facilitate fermentation.
The soleingredients of sauer kraut are cab
base aud salt. Worms aud insects mig! t i'm
prove the favor, but they are rcligiously ex-
clutled. -..
1t takes saur kraut from two to folr weeks
to cure or ferment, depending OH the temper
allure of the cabbage when put iii and the at
mosphere afterwaid. 1t can be kept as long
as desired, AMI. like wine, improves with age.
But. it is not kept in the tanks After fer
uc.aton it is placed in barrels holding
thir, 1.-TWO gallons each, and headed up as
tight as an oil barrel. Then it is shipped in
any quantity desired all over the country
"Hassler' in Chicago Inter-Occan.
Facts Concerning Strawberries.
| Strawberries are said to be particularly